Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted…
In March of 2020, we were about to embark from Split on a ferry bound for Ancona, whence we intended to travel by train to Lucca. Intrepid travelers that we are, only an event as cataclysmic as a world-wide pandemic could have blown us off course. You’ll never guess what happened next!
For an account of our previous sojourns in Europe, our thrilling escape from Croatia, and our enforced confinement back in Washington D.C. and Seattle, we refer you to the tab at the top of this page: “Where Were We? 2019-2021.” But for now, we are on the road again...
Alternative Facts: Lucca, Italy
Four of these statements are true. One is merely "truthy." Can you spot the alternative Fact?
- At 2.6 miles, Lucca’s surrounding wall is the second longest in Europe.
- Lucca’s comics and games festival is the second largest in the world.
- Giacomo Puccini, born in Lucca in 1858, placed second in the first season of Italy's Got Talent.
- Despite its fame, the Torre Guinigi is only the second tallest tower in Lucca.
- Next to Trattoria da Giulio, Gino Bistro Bar is the restaurant where the Couse brothers have eaten the second most lunches in Lucca.
alternative facts: Antibes, France
FOUR OF THESE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE. ONE IS MERELY "TRUTHY." CAN YOU SPOT THE ALTERNATIVE FACT?
- When Napoleon escaped from Elba, he landed near Antibes only to find the city gates closed against him.
- Antibes was the city in France closest to Italy until the border moved to Menton in 1860.
- Pablo Picasso came to Antibes in 1946, where he lived and painted at the Grimaldi Castle for 6 months.
- The Cap d’Antibes peninsula is so named because its outline resembles a French beret.
- Author Graham Greene spent his later years in a small apartment in Antibes.